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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Imagine every application that requires lighting in your commercial facility. Can’t wrap your head around it? Needless to say, lighting can be a huge percentage of your annual energy costs. Energy efficient lighting like LED wall packs or LED bollard lights  can make a significant difference in your energy bill.

Surprisingly, 22% of America’s facilities have never undergone any type of lighting upgrade, or it has been more than 10 years since work has been done, according to a survey in the April 2013 issue of Today’s Facility Manager.That means 1.1 million facilities are wasting energy—and wasting money. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

What’s the real imperative of the migration to renewable energy and cutting back our consumption of fossil fuels via efficiency and conservation?  Might you say: Climate change?

We’ll, that certainly one good answer.  Of course, there are half a dozen others:  dealing with peak oil, health issues, ocean acidification, the loss of biodiversity, human hostility, etc.  When I’m interviewed on the subject and I encounter climate change deniers, I’m quick to change the subject.  As I often say, “If you don’t believe in climate change, that’s fine, just pick another good reason to curb our addiction to fossil fuels; most of them have nothing to do with this dreaded subject whatsoever.”

But having said all this, the build-up of greenhouse gases, which will eventually culminate in the melting of the arctic and the release of the methane beneath it, carries with it a fairly hefty price tag in terms of climate change per se, (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s a conversation I just had with a reader – one that I have in various forms at the rate of several per month.

Reader: Have you seen this yet? That’s why we need to get EVs in everyone’s hands. No mention of cost. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’ll be leaving home next Tuesday before dawn for a series of appointments in the Bay Area.  Perhaps the meeting about which I’m most excited is with the San Francisco office of Greentech Capital Advisors.  I’m constantly trying to expand my network of relationships with the top people in the world of bringing together solid cleantech concepts with sources of investment capital, and a friend of a friend in their Zurich office was good enough to arrange this conversation.

Should I wear a tie?  If this meeting were in Zurich (or one of their other offices in London or New York), there’d be no question.  San Francisco can go either way, so to speak.  I suppose since we’ll be in the financial district, I guess I’ll dress up.  My closet-full of suits and ties from the old days doesn’t see as much action as it did in the days before all this was liberalized.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Aldous Huxley would be 119 years old today.  I read his Brave New World in a course I had in college called “Social Ideals and Ideal Societies,” which I took for a very noble reason: a pretty girl I liked had signed up for it.

According to the Writer’s Almanac: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s a good article that analyzes the eco-friendliness of electric transportation that makes a point that I try to emphasize in my discussions on the subject: the EV “selection effect.”  The vast majority of EV buyers at this point make their decision based on their interest in protecting and preserving the environment, and are extremely likely to charge their cars with solar energy, i.e., “green people buy green cars and green electricity.”  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

South America is facing environmental issues, from water issues to air pollution to waste removal and overcrowded landfills.

While some of these are being dealt with, others are worsening and in turn, health issues are affected.

Here’s a look at some of the issues in South America and how the green movement is coming into play.

Air Pollution (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Writing for the Motley Fool, Katie Spence opines that the low price ($41,350 less incentives) for the neat little BMW i3 (pictured here) is seriously bad news for competitors of various types.  The most obvious, head-on-head player is the Nissan Leaf, another smallish all-electric whose models run from  $28,800 (LEAF S) to $34,840 (LEAF SL). (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I’m glad to see that France is back in the news with respect to renewable energy and electric transportation.  According to this article, the EV battery market there is predicted to experience a compound annual growth rate of over 44%! (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Going green is a global movement as climate change, loss of natural resources, and other biodiversity issues are impacting the entire planet.

Spain has had a bright future in renewable energy, in fact President Obama pointed to the efforts of Spain as a model for other countries.

Efforts were made to encourage investors to put money into renewable energy in the country, while government subsidies seemed to secure Spain’s green future. (more…)

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